Crudes that have one or more unsuitable properties that do not allow the crudes to be economically transported or processed using conventional facilities are commonly referred to as “disadvantaged crudes”.
One way of making such disadvantaged crudes transportable may be by converting components such as micro-carbon residue (MCR) of the disadvantaged crude.
Conventional methods of converting MCR include contacting the disadvantaged crude at elevated temperatures and pressure with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst.
During such contacting, ultra-violet aromatic hydrocarbons (UV aromatics) in the disadvantaged crude may be hydrogenated to form saturated hydrocarbons. The formation of saturated hydrocarbons may change the solubility properties of various hydrocarbons in the disadvantaged crudes (for example, solubility properties of polar compounds such as asphaltenes and/or high molecular weight compounds). The change in solubility may disadvantageously result in phase separation of some of the components during processing. Formation of two phases during processing may also disadvantageously reduce the life of conventional catalysts and/or disadvantageously affect the efficiency of the process.
Additionally, processing at high temperatures and pressures tends to promote formation of coke and/or other precipitates. Coke and/or other precipitates may accumulate in pores of the catalyst, reducing the activity of the catalyst and the life of the catalyst.
Another way of making disadvantaged crudes transportable may be by mixing the crude with a diluent.
It would be desirable to have a method and/or a catalyst for converting components that contribute to micro-carbon residue (MCR) content in the disadvantaged crude whilst maintaining solubility of high molecular weight compounds in the disadvantaged crude/products mixture formed during processing. Therefore it would be desirable to have a method for converting components that contribute to micro-carbon residue (MCR) content in the disadvantaged crude whilst maintaining or increasing the content of ultra-violet aromatic hydrocarbons. It would further be advantageous if the catalyst could be used at elevated temperatures and minimal pressures with minimal formation of coke and/or other precipitates. It would further be advantageous if such a catalyst would, additionally, have a longer useful life than conventional catalysts.
In addition it would be advantageous if a portion of the product could be separated and used as a diluent for other hydrocarbon compositions such as for example other disadvantaged crudes or another portion of the disadvantaged crude.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,421 to Hensley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,499 to Sherwood Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,994 to Reynolds et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,280 to Harle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,501 to Sudhakar et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,222 to Angevine et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,594 to Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,419 to Peck et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,710 to Simpson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,472 to Morales et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,203 to Toulhoat et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,301 to Dahlberg et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,636 to Fukui et al. describe various processes, systems, and catalysts for processing crudes and/or disadvantaged crudes.
U.S. Published Patent Application Nos. 20050133414 through 20050133418 to Bhan et al.; 20050139518 through 20050139522 to Bhan et al., 20050145543 to Bhan et al., 20050150818 to Bhan et al., 20050155908 to Bhan et al., 20050167320 to Bhan et al., 20050167324 through 20050167332 to Bhan et al., 20050173301 through 20050173303 to Bhan et al., 20060060510 to Bhan; 20060231465 to Bhan; 20060231456 to Bhan; 20060234876 to Bhan; 20060231457 to Bhan and 20060234877 to Bhan; 20070000810 to Bhan et al.; 20070000808 to Bhan; 20070000811 to Bhan et al.; International Publication Nos. WO 02/32570, WO 2008/016969, and WO 2008/106979 to Bhan; and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/866,909; 11/866,916; 11/866,921 through 11/866,923; 11/866,926; 11/866,929 and 11/855,932 to Bhan et al., filed Oct. 3, 2007, are related patent applications and describe various processes, systems, and catalysts for processing crudes and/or disadvantaged crudes.
International Application Publication No. WO 02/32570 to Bhan describes a catalyst for hydrodemetallation of a heavy hydrocarbon stream. The catalyst has a bimodal pore structure and is prepared by mixing at least 20% alumina fines and metal from Column 6 and Column 10 of the Periodic Table. The catalyst was found to be effective at removing metals from heavy oil fractions containing high concentrations of nickel and vanadium while exhibiting good stability. This publication does not describe ultra-violet aromatics content of the product relative to the ultra-violet aromatic content of the feed.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/866,921 to Bhan et al. filed Oct. 3, 2007 describes, in Example 27, contact of a hydrocarbon feed (crude from Peace River) with a Molybdenum catalyst containing mineral oxide fines to produce a crude product that has a residue content of 20.2 wt %. This publication does not describe ultra-violet aromatics content of the product relative to the ultra-violet aromatic content of the feed.
It would be desirable to have a method to economically convert disadvantaged crudes to transportable crude products. Therefore, it would further be desirable to be able to reduce at least a portion of the components that contribute to micro-carbon residue content while maintaining the stability of the crude and/or product by maintaining or increasing UV aromatics content. It would further be advantageous is large amounts of disadvantaged crudes can be made transportable with limited processing.